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Recommend a Sandbox

Several friends and I have, over the years, logged a ton of hours on games like minecraft and terraria, and lately we've started looking again for something to fill that gap. We want a big sandbox to play in and explore, with a persistent server to leave up all the time, but that isn't an MMO. We'd like to host maybe 10 people that we like and just log in and mess around. Build things, fight, that sort of thing. Any ideas/recommendations?

Other than Starbound. Starbound needs to get a bit further in development before any of us want to play it again.

Will be watching this thread with interest as this is a genre that I really enjoy, especially the more social cooperative type games. All the games I am following at the moment are still in development. Games like Planet Explorers (http://planetexplorers.pathea.net/) and TUG (http://www.nerdkingdom.com/game/). Planet Explorers seems further on in development but is focusing on single player first before adding multiplayer.

I looked at Tug (actually I own it) and it's still just prettier minecraft at this point, although I'm hopeful it turns out well. Planet Explorers looks like 2005 called and wants their graphics back. I'm not sure if I can get over that.

Have you heard of Haven and Hearth or the prettier version, Salem? During my vacation last year i could say i spent almost 1/3 of my days playing this games. They're pretty awesome but very deep, time consuming and slow. I would gladly play it again with some friends if i had the chance though. Check it out:

How about Wurm Online? Have not played it for some serious amount of time but should be much better now. Had a lovely community going and great medieval survival atmosphere. Extremely slow paced though but amount of detail is pretty impressive.

I haven't tried Wurm Online. I remember seeing some screenshots during development a few years ago and not being impressed. It currently looks pretty bad, but I'm reading that feature list and I think I'll give it a try. One drawback is that it's an mmo, and we're not really looking for an mmo.

I looked at Tug (actually I own it) and it's still just prettier minecraft at this point, although I'm hopeful it turns out well. Planet Explorers looks like 2005 called and wants their graphics back. I'm not sure if I can get over that.

Not sure how you're calling Planet Explorers out as being the ugly one of that trio. There's an out of date demo available for Planet Explorers here:

Several friends and I have, over the years, logged a ton of hours on games like minecraft and terraria, and lately we've started looking again for something to fill that gap. We want a big sandbox to play in and explore, with a persistent server to leave up all the time, but that isn't an MMO. We'd like to host maybe 10 people that we like and just log in and mess around. Build things, fight, that sort of thing. Any ideas/recommendations?

Other than Starbound. Starbound needs to get a bit further in development before any of us want to play it again.

Maybe you could look into 7 days to die? It's still very much in development, but a couple of friends of mine logged dozens of hours on it already and seem to be enjoying it. Be careful what you buy into though, I don't know how finished the game is.

Asteria is pretty good and fun, terraria-like, not a TON of emphasis on the sandbox but a lot of crafting and you can build/place blocks/etc. The combat feel more action-y and megaman-ish than other 2d sandboxes. There are like 7 or more dungeons made by the devs. I have like 30 asteria videos over at my youtube channel. There's another Terraria-like that I really enjoy called Epic Inventor, I played a few episodes of that @ youtube too jic you want to preview it before you download a free game.

Wurm is currently the only online game with player built cities and full player terraforming over gigantic lands. It takes me about two to three days to completely sail around the map with small stops here and there to look at what players have built.

I've been playing Unturned over the last few days. It's essentially DayZ/Rust/Minecraft. It's also free, not an MMO, has both single and multiplayer modes and the combat isn't bad.

Its good for what it is but the map is really tiny and the combat is extremely easy once you work it out (basically keep walking backwards while flailing madly). Howver it is still in alpha, it probably the most frequently updated game that I have ever played and it is free.

Maybe you could look into 7 days to die? It's still very much in development, but a couple of friends of mine logged dozens of hours on it already and seem to be enjoying it. Be careful what you buy into though, I don't know how finished the game is.

This! 7 Days to Die is amazing and already very well complete and polished...and yet still in development with new features coming all the time. Next major update should bring 'infinite world', but the map is already plenty big for 10 players to kick around in.

People keep mentioning Planet Explorers... that is a decent option, but it is very far from being polished and the multiplayer is just chock full of bugs left and right. It looks very pretty though and has some immensely cool features... like building your own ground and air vehicles and designing your own weapons. Keep this an eye on this one.

People keep mentioning Planet Explorers... that is a decent option, but it is very far from being polished and the multiplayer is just chock full of bugs left and right. It looks very pretty though and has some immensely cool features... like building your own ground and air vehicles and designing your own weapons. Keep this an eye on this one.

Planet Explorers is an interesting title but indeed very unfinished. There's enough there that I don't feel cheated but one does stumble over the seams here and there. In general though, the think Planet Explorers needs the most is a UI overhaul. Especially the actual designing of vehicles and weapons, to be honest, I've worked with Programs like Rhino 3D and they were easier to handle than what's there as Item Designer in Planet Explorer at the moment. It's also the point I usually bounce off.

But they did say they were going to rework that and everything else I enjoy already. Some more tweaking, some more fixing and Planet Explorers will be lots of fun. It just isn't there yet.